20 years since I visited SF, but plenty of memories remain. Alcatraz was rad, and the security guys at the boat landing were still bragging about meeting Cage and Connery while The Rock (movie, not the actor) was filming there. Lombard Street was fun. So was a production of "The Phantom of the Opera" in a big old theater in which we sat in the rearmost seats in the highest balcony (having not bought tickets ahead of time).

I had an internship in Palo Alto one summer. I spent most of it very depressed, over-sleeping on the front porch of the dilapidated house (we were supposed to get housing at Stanford, but someone screwed up, and a dilapidated house was all we could afford to rent).

I went to SF one day with the head secretary from the office we were at. Walked across the bridge. (The one to Marin, not Oakland). We drove back through SF without stopping.

Palo Alto fucking sucks. I can't speak for SF, since I only really saw that bridge.

Well, in that case, I'm an idiot too. The Golden Gate was in my mind all the time I was reading the Bridge Trilogy. It was real hard to make some of the narrative fit!

I've been to SF once, in transit to LA after a flight from Narita (North West overbooking scandal). Never left the airport - spent the entire time waiting for my luggage to arrive on a subsequent, much later, NWA flight from Japan via Hawaii. I'd have been better staying with the luggage.

i go once/year and it's brilliant; I don't typically venture far, though I have seen a few cool places (ex-boss lived there and would show us around.). The Interval bar in Fort Mason is awesome, and there were a slew of food trucks pulling in on Friday afternoon, but that was September.... Gorgeous gardens/museums around, the Cartoon Art Museum near Moscone if you find yourself in that district, and a wicked little Speakeasy on Mission as well.

Giant Robot used to have a place there, but sadly they closed .. LA is their only refuge now, though the art goes international (WG keyed me into gr ~ 10(?) years back, so fucking great).

Okay now I'm confused too. Having never been to San Fran or Oakland in the flesh, I kind of thought there was only one famous bridge there, the Golden Gate bridge, being the reddish humpy span shaped one; this being the bridge in the Bridge trilogy. Maybe my bridge names and pictures in my head are all skewiff.

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For further context: Oakland at the other terminus of the Oakland Bay Bridge tends to be associated with poor black people. Marin County, at the other terminus of the Golden Gate, by contrast, tends to be associated with rich white people.

That should put the bits in the Bridge Triology about (I forget which characters) not wanting to go onto "the other side" of the bridge into better context.

I was very impressed with the Prison Tour. In addition, the trip back and forth to the Island is almost as good as the Prison Tour itself.

However, be aware its one of the city's most popular venues. You could easily never get out there, if you think you can 'just show up'.

Book your tickets out the island as far in advance as possible. Try to get booked on the FIRST ferry out. This will allow you to tour the site in uncrowded leisure. (The Island gets crowded very quickly.)

I'd also like to recommend Muir Woods.

This is harder to get to, being outside the city. However, if you've never seen giant sequoias in a natural environment, its worth the trip. In addition, the contrast between the miniature temperate rainforest and the urban landscape of the city can be quite jarring.

My brother lives in the suburbs of SF, and I've been visiting the place since the 80s. The Alcatraz tour is an absolute must. The audio tour has won lots of awards, and deservedly so.

Climb Coit Tower for the view.

Go to City Lights and buy a book. Buy lots of books. Support one of the world's great independent bookstores.

Go to Ghirardelli Square and buy chocolate.

Go to the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park for a culture hit.

Go to the recently-renovated Ferry Building and find lots of decent food places (I like Gott's Roadside) and shops full of expensive kitchenware.

Speaking of food... I got taken to the Tadich Grill on my first visit and loved it; cocktails at the Top of the Mark is a must IMO too. Hong Kong Lounge on Geary was the best Chinese food place last time I was there a couple of years ago, and while you wait for a table head across the road to Royal Ground Coffee (their "Keith Richards" was a quadruple shot espresso, yum). If you like garlic in *everything* the Stinking Rose restaurant is worth a visit.

You guys rock. I can't beat this board as a resource after 12 years still. If things as planned I will split yhe trip between 2-3 days with my academic life partner who I work with and 4-7 days w the Girl. He and I went to Flint, MI for example to view the urban decay.

This novel (I believe I've read all of them), is a thing of beauty: the writing IMHO -it is choice. I'm on my 3rd re-read and it won't be the last either. Except maybe the cliche "You deep" (at least it becomes a cliche in the course of this novel) omg it so gets on my nerves.

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